P h o t o g r a p h y

Texas - Padre Island National Shoreline.

Padre Island - streatching about 112 mi. (180 km) from the Packery Channel at Mustang Island (north) to the Brazos Santiago Pass (south), near the Mexico border, with the Gulf of Mexico (east) and the Laguna Madre (west). The island is part of the Central Flyway (encompassing all of the vast region lying between the valley of the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains - the Great Plains. There are around 380 bird species identified on Padre Island, almost half of all species documented in North America. Upon the island is the Padre Island National Shoreline (1962), whose park protects about 70 mi. (113 km) of coastline, dunes, prairies, and tidal flats - which is part of the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island on Planet Earth.